The women of "The View" are responding to criticism that they mocked Miss Colorado's monologue about nursing after they were inundated with massive social media backlash.
It took 27 minutes on Tuesday, but co-host Michelle Collins finally addressed the issue, saying their comments were taken out of context.
Co-host Joy Behar even used the words, "I was just stupid, I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about," during her apology on Tuesday.
However, not everyone apologized.
Raven-Symone said, "Did they hear the conversation? Did they know what you were talking about at all?"
During the Miss America pageant on Sunday, Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson came out during the talent portion wearing scrubs and a stethoscope and did a monologue about her passion -- being a nurse and caring for Alzheimer’s patients.
On Monday's episode of "The View," co-host Michelle Collins said, "(She) came in a nurse's uniform, and basically read e-mails out loud (laughing). And shockingly did not win. I was like, ‘That’s not a real talent.'"
Behar chimed in with, "Why does she have a doctor's stethoscope around her neck?"
Viewers, and especially nurses, flooded The View's Facebook page criticizing the women for their comments.
"You all disgust me!," wrote Leia Jenkins Morse. "How dare you tear down one of the most respected and selfless jobs a person can have. Nurses save lives, we are there to hold your family members hand when you have left for the night and they are dying. Nurses are the ones that spend 24 hours a day with you or your loved one who is sick. Nurses are the ones who walk in and find your family lying lifeless in the bed and starts CPR so that they may have a chance to give you a few more moments. Nurses are the ones who carry a stethoscope and while you think it's a Hollywood prop, I use it to listen to a patient who may have heart failure, respiratory failure or your child who is asthmatic and can't breathe."
"As an RN with a husband with Alzheimer's her comments were a double whammy. Miss Colorado is a true professional and would have made us all proud to call her Miss America," wrote Peggy Miller.
"Everybody has a right to their opinion but maybe Joy should go spend a day shadowing a Nurse," said Sharon Bacon Trosclair.
On Tuesday, Collins said, "People were very upset with what we said."
Collins explained, "I, for all of us, want to say we love nurses. Nurses, if you’re watching, we adore you, we respect you."
When the audience started applauding, Collins said, "Clap for the nurses. You guys are wonderful, you’re the most compassionate people."
Collins tried to say the hosts weren't talking about Miss Colorado's profession as a nurse.
"I was not talking about her as a nurse, we were talking about the talent competition, and it got misconstrued," Collins said.
Behar tried to explain her comments by saying, "I was just not paying attention. I was looking at a Miss America tape and there’s a woman wearing like an outfit with a stethoscope and I’m thinking, 'Is she in a costume?' I didn’t know she was nurse. I'm used to seeing them (contestants) in gowns and bathing suits."
Behar went on to say, "It’s not like I was trying to be funny. I was just stupid, and inattentive on my part. I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about."
Behar explained her son-in-law is a physician's assistant and one of her nieces is a nurse.
Despite the apology, co-host Whoopie Goldberg, who was not part of the discussion on Monday, jumped into the conversation and tried to say it was all a joke.
"You just have to listen, you have to pay attention, you have to look at folks and say, 'Is that what they said or was she making a joke?'" Goldberg said.
